Christmas countdown

Gathered in a circle at Esplanade after a Christmas caroling session, we heralded the arrival of Christmas Day with poppers and sparklers.

Later, at Sentosa where some of us spent overnight at the beach.

The roses and the bday boy

A lovely bouquet of USM1 for Gabriel.

God Jul!

God Jul (or Merry Christmas)! Pontus sent his Christmas greetings from Sweden to all. He celebrated Christmas with some of us last year. Currently, he's at his parent's home near Goterburg for Christmas. =)

One tough bite

YS and CK in a forfeit for a game during their birthday celebration. It's an attempt to chew on an apple... not a 'scandal in the making'.

Fa la la la la, la la la la

The IT gals with the Christmas tree at Capitol Building and beany Christmas gifts after an 'curry favor' dinner.

Power Nap

just an article to share...

i very often kena hits by "post-lunch slump", wat i did to overcome it? it is exactly wat the author describe, i get myself a cup of coffee. i think next time i will instead to go nap for 15 mins. :)

Do you know how to “Power Nap?”

When the “post-lunch slump” hits—what’s the right thing to do? Should we pick up a coffee on the way back to our desk, or should we find a quiet place where we can lean back and close our eyes for fifteen minutes?

Napping during the day isn’t considered an option for most of us who live in industrialized countries. It’s even frowned upon in the workplace as a sign of low productivity. But while the so-called “super-achievers” are out on their coffee breaks, researchers say real achievers have discovered a much more effective “pause that refreshes”—the afternoon nap.

Cornell psychologist Dr. James Maas, author of Power Sleep writes that a 20 minute nap in the afternoon actually provides more rest than sleeping an extra 20 minutes in the morning. He also writes that napping, instead of being discouraged, should be considered a part of one’s “daily exercise routine.”

Naps should be performed at mid-day—about eight hours after we wake up—so as to not disturb the natural biorhythm of our sleep-wake cycles. Naps also should be short; definitely no longer than 30 minutes. (Longer naps allow us to settle into deep sleep, from which it is difficult to awaken).

Another nap secret? Don’t worry if you fall asleep or not. Just closing your eyes and relaxing peacefully will be refreshing in itself. The final anxiety to eliminate is concern about over-sleeping. Professional nappers set a timer for 15-30 minutes, which allows them to enjoy the full rest period without looking at the clock.

Next time you feel the post-lunch slump, consider having a glass of water and closing your eyes for 15 minutes. You’ll be surprised how refreshed you feel from your power nap!

Thank-God speech for results

After Jarain, now is my turn to thank God for my results! hehe. The result: I got a B for Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Very relieved and glad!

I have been awaiting the release of the result for the past few days with much anticipation and finally it was out this late afternoon. Hoped to share about it during cg but didn't have time to check till I returned home just now. Did the silly thing: Logged onto the online system, covered the monitor's screen with a piece of paper, press 'enter' to load the page and slowly shifted the paper away to unveil the result. ;) Such excitement!

Really must thank God (whatever the result may be) coz I don't have much opportunity to thank God for exams and results liao... This would be my 2nd last paper in my many yrs of ntu education. Wanna thank God and people for the following:

• Discovered a field that I would like to further pursue.


• Satisfying results. Gracious God has given a grade that I aimed for: at least a B. (Heard Prof may need to write explanation if students didn't get B in some faculties.) Phew* I didn't also have a history of doing well in papers that requires large volume of writing with argumentative presentation. So this is definitely gd result.


• Prayers from Kel that removed the anxiety on the nite before the paper, from 小丽 and LiYi just before entering the exam hall and from all other people.


• Sufficient time to prepare despite my poor stewardship of time.


• Got to know students from another course and great opportunities to work with them. The subject was from another faculty.

Thank you Lord for this amazing academic journey and my dear bros and sis, you have been a great part of it!

Student Conference Aftermath

It has been a week since the student conf oredi.Like wat kw mentioned in previous email b4, I tink it will be my last student conf too, taking into account of my expiry date in usm :p lots of happenings after the conf besides HR reshuffling in mediacorp and mediaworks hee.I went back office on Mon, and the news of me taking leave to attend student conf actually spread to my other collaegue in engineering dept.O how "rumour" spread! :p after Tue,the company was quieter and lesser pple. I'm left with little things to do, so more free time yeah...even went to edit a trailer on Noah Ark,if theres chance, maybe can show u all haha.But the mood in office was depressing. many uncertainties.Unwillingness.Complaints.Really need to stand firm against these negative thoughts and hope in the Lord... =)

But the great thing is yet to come. Remember the new friend we met that Anne shared about during our special events outing? We exchanged contacts and I emailed her few days later and she replied! So touched that she wrote that she actually know how to make the joined heart oredi and even give to her friend though she dunno how to teach them.**touched** she actually apply wat we taught her and eventually fulfil our aim of the special event. I tink her email was really a great encouragment for a person we have known such a short while. I still rem that time when we have to "outreach" on our 1st task in the special events, I was abit afraid and nervous to approach strangers :p haha keep "pushing" melissa to start first but thank God for Melissa, slowly we get the flow of our opening speech then we became quite "fluent" in it hehe.But really thankful to God that the pple we approached are all quite friendly and so we r encouraged to go on and finally God give us a new friend with just our first approach on our 2nd task.It was a fruitful and meaningful time together =)

Let us continue to draw strength from God...
No obstacles can distract us of the joy of this coming Christmas!!

GOD's blessing thru my exam results

My exam results....
Investment module ---Pass
Intro to futures and option -- Fail
International Monetary Econs -- Credit

Actually I was expected to fail Intro to futures, so the results was no surprise to me. But in the midst of this results, I could see GOD's blessing.

Blessing 1: I was quite afraid of failing Investment module because I didnt want to do the project again. So, GOD was gracious and gave me a passing grade.

Blessing 2: In the scenario where I have now two more modules to complete, one being risk management which i failed last sem, and the intro module that i failed this sem, I will take another one year to complete my degree. Why is this a blessing?

Remember my birthday wish, I said, I want to go do community svs one year upon completion of my degree. So, now GOD is giving me 2 years from now to prepare my cash and heart to go.

Blessing 3: GOD have arranged my schedule for next year in a good way as well. The module intro will not be available next sem, which means I have to wait till 2nd sem of 2005 to take. In this way, I can take with my other friends.. and hey in the midst that group of friends, there is one which I have tried sowing on, and in her group, there is a HOPE sister!!!! In fact, the risk management I am taking this coming sem will be together with her as well!!! SO EXCITIING!

Blessing 4: Due to my crazy work schedule, if I have to take two modules in one sem, esp for next sem which I will be super busy with Asian Champs, I probably die off. So now doing one module per sem, leaves me with more free days for other things in life, and hopefully my committee meetings dont crash with things like CG again.
Meaning, I got more time to go gym and learn to play tennis hahahahahaha

Is that enuff blessing from one exam results or what??!!

Off to spread the message

On the journey to Orchard to spread 2 messages as part of the activities at the Student Conference '04. What have you learnt today? The rest of the photos are in Bits of USM.